I have visited the Axminster Power Tools show for several years, both
when it was at Shepton Mallett and now at Westpoint near Exeter.

I've found it a very good way of seeing what is on the market already,
what is new on the market, to look at and feel a very wide range of
tools in one place and to talk to their vendors.

Broadly, I know what I am going to be looking for in the coming months
and can form opinions of what is good, what is mediochre and what I
should avoid.

I like to spend some time wandering around and comparing, if need be
several times.

This year, I bought tickets in advance for the Thursday and Friday.
Thursday, the preview day, is generally quieter, and I arrived at
lunchtime. By around 1500, it had become quite a bit quieter and I was
able to wander around and spend time without pushing through crowds.
On Friday morning, I went with both Grunff and Phil Addison and we all
had another good look around.

Generally......

The show was quite busy, although I had the impression that the
organisers might have had difficulty selling all the stand space to
trade exhibitors and had done low cost or possibly free deals for craft
exhibitors. Having the turning and carving exhibits is fine, but a
local model aircraft club seemed a bit of a stretch. Nevertheless, I
would rather have something than empty stand space, which always looks
crap.
It's also a shame that venues like this let themselves down by having
mediochre catering and not making enough effort with cleaning the place
- especially the toilets.....
However, to be fair, it is not the most horrendous exhibition venue
that I have visited, by a long way.

I was in the market for a number of things:


- marking tools
- spindle tooling for panel doors
- clamps (you can never have too many)
- small drill driver

Then I wanted to look for new ideas and technologies and at what is
available and becoming available


= Veritas (from Canada)make a very nice range of standard and unusual
fine woodworking tools. I was particularly looking for a good quality
square but they don't seem to make one. However, I did find a very
solid straight edge and a marking knife.
http://www.leevalley.com/

= I like to use the very traditional Bessey K clamps and was planning
to augment my collection using the special show pricing. However, I
also saw their new Duo-clamp product. This is a one hand light clamp
but is a lot better and easier to use than its typical competitors. I
bought some and tried them out at the weekend. Impressed so far

= Utility and Craft knives. I've been disappointed with Stanley
knives in recent years. The handles aren't that good any longer and
either the blades are crap or materials tougher. Either way, not a
pleasure to use. Grunff pointed out a knife range and blades made by
Irwin. Took a close look at these. First of all, the blades are
manufactured such that they are claimed to have three times the life of
plain steel. Secondly, there are a number of well thought out features
in the handle such as magnets to prevent the blades falling out. I
bought two and tried one out on Sunday. They do what they say on the
tin..... nice product. I needed some smaller craft knives as well.
Previously I had used X-Acto that I had bought in the US. Here they
had some Swann Morton ones. Bought a set, haven't tried yet.

= Spindle Tooling. I had been debating whether to go for a set of
router cutters or some 30mm spindle tooling for making door panels. I
was also looking for additional profile tooling. Whitehill really
hadn't bothered to make much effort with what they had to show and talk
about, so I was looking for alternatives, of which there were really
three - Freud, Trend and a newish one (at least here) Brueck.
Again, Freud didn't have that much to offer. Brueck had some good
offerings, a good catalogue of tools and cutters. However, I was
concerned that the cutters seemed to be proprietary to the blocks.
Trend, in their industrial range, have a good range of products and
pricing seemed fair in terms of value for money and choice - plus they
use standard sizes. I went for a profile block and a special offer on
a set of two blocks for door and frame cutting.

= Gorilla Wipes. I allowed myself one product that was being sold on
a fairground basis and this was it. I had used impregnated wipes
before and they were OK but not exceptional. These ones seem to have
an alcohol, a detergent of some kind etc. I've used them for glue
cleanup (aliphatic and PU) as well as grease, silicone etc. I was
especially sceptical about silicones but they will clean it up if
uncured.

= Small drill driver. I have been looking for some time for
something in between the DW 7.2v screwdriver and the Makita 14.4v
products that I have. Both are workhorses and do excellent work.
However, I was looking for something that could achieve the torque
without being overly massive. For mixed work, I have been using the
Trend Snappy tools for a while. These are OK, but some are not a
brilliant fit in their holder. I looked at Makita - all good
products but nothing that fitted the bill; same with Hitachi and Bosch.
I had looked briefly at the Festool stand but had not noticed
anything special. I'm glad I went back on Friday. Grunff spotted
what has turned out to be exactly what I wanted - the C12. This is an
impressive product, and I am not easily impressed. The motor is
brushless and controls are electronic. The torque selector controls
the electronics such that the motor gently cuts when the desired torque
is reached - no clicking gearbox. It's well balanced and light with
a choice of NiMH or NiCD battery packs in different capacities. The
motor runs at high torque and low speed from a light touch on the
trigger - better than even Makita manage, and that's pretty good. I
bought the version with swappable chucks. There is a standard chuck
and then three more. One is an angle chuck that canbe oriented and
locked at any angle. A second is an offset chuck which allows a
screwdriver to be positioned no more than 10mm from an edge and still
straight. This makes a big difference to straight driving in certain
situations. Finally, Festool have their own quick change adaptor,
Centrotec. This is similar to the Snappy idea. Normally I don't like
proprietary stuff, but their implementation is good. Also, I can
change things like drills in the holders so anything is easily
replaced. I have a feeling that this technology will find its way
into other Festool products in the future, but for the moment this is a
very pleasing product that's a pleasure to use. There's a complete
set of parts lists, drawings in the Systainer box along with warranty
and service information.


= Other things

- Over the next few months as projects indicate the need, I am going to
go for some additional hand planes. I have some very old wooden ones
and some slightly less old original Stanley ones, which although looked
after have been "well used".
More recently, I've added to them with certain planes made by
Lie-Nielsen from the U.S. These are also a pleasure to use -feeling
solid and behaving predictably and doing what I wanted.
I had been sure that there was more to be learned, and I found on
Lie-Nielsen's stand a set of three DVDs with David Charlesworth
demonstrating sharpening, planing and shooting techniques.
These are well done and I've learned quite a lot from them already as
well as some useful tricks and techniques. Recommended for anybody
liking hand plane work.

- Look at machines. There was not a lot that was remarkably new.
Perhaps the most noticable addition was Rojek with quite a
comprehensive set of woodworking machines from former eastern Europe.
Quite well positioned and I thought better than Sheppach in their
class.

- Interesting power tool. Arbortech are known for making a range of
rather lethal looking tools for doing large wood carving. They are
Australian, and like most things Australian, subtle is not an adjective
that is used a lot. However, they make an interesting product called
an AS160. www.allsaw.com
This is a saw with two opposing blades for cutting brickwork etc. Its
advantage is that it makes coarse dust which just drops down. So for
chasing and mortar raking it would be attractive to use. This is not
something likely to end up as a DIY or even trade tool in most cases -
price tag is £700. However, according to the makers, they are
starting to enter the tool rental trade. For a few tens of UKL per
day, to avoid mess they could be interesting.


- Look at power tools. Apart from the Festool C12, I didn't see much
else of note. I reconfirmed earlier decisions about power tools that
I had bought - mainly Makita, a few Hitachi and DeWalt and Fein.
Nothing has changed to make me alter that decision.

Looked at what was available from the entry level and midrange
suppliers. Toolbank had a display of the Techtronics Ryobi home
improvement brand tools. There were assorted drills, drivers and
combination drills. The product manager was demonstrating one to a
potential customer and the clutch mechanism jammed. He was able to
free it after jiggling it for a little while. Took a look at this and
a couple of others and no these don't have the solid feel of Makita and
others. Asked the product manager how he positioned TTI Ryobi. His
reply was that they are better than the £30 jobs in B&Q, but clearly
not in the same league as Hitachi, DW, Bosch blue, Makita or the
workhorse, Skil.

The only other product range there nominally in the same league is
Axminster White. Unsurprisingly, there was quite a range. I looked
at a few, and some seemed potentially quite reasonable - especially the
better lathes. It was clear though, that there is inconsistency across
the range - some tool and machine types were a lot better than others.
As an aside, I dropped by the Axminster showroom (in Axminster, funnily
enough) on the way home because there were a couple of things I wanted
to pick up rather than having them sent. On waiting to pay, there
were three different customers with various of their drill products,
all bought within the last few weeks. One had a knackered battery,
another (new one) had a chuck that was obviously eccentric and a third
had a very graunchy gearbox new out of the box.
Two replaced and one refunded.
I don't think I'll buy anything from Axminster White without seeing and
touching it first.


All in all, well worth the trip....